I wanted to let this community know about the absolutely positive experience I have with the Clear Day double shotguns speaker cables. Been meaning to share my experience for the past 2 week, but did not find time. I am thrilled like a kid.
My only regret is that I should have accepted his offer 2 years back when I contacted him for the first time regarding the cables. For some reasons, I hesitated. And that was a mistake. This time around I let Paul know about my speaker sensitivity and what cable configuration I was currently using. Based on that he recommended the double shotgun versions. Without providing any credit card details, Paul shipped the sample cables (5'2") and I plugged them into my system. He said to run them in for about 10 hours before I do some critical listening. Honestly I started listening critically from the first second. The sound stage seemed huge compare to my previous cables and the treble opened up more than I was used to.
I thought this was a placebo effect and switched back to my older cables. The sound stage came back to what I was used to and the treble softened as usual. Not to say that the Signals were doing anything wrong. It was just that the Clear Days were doing things much better. On familiar CDs, the instruments are placed very precisely in the sound stage. Instruments are delineated from the speaker boxes and seems to be placed beyond the room boundary. There was something that this cable was doing "correct" in my system. The sound seem to be "so real". I am sorry, I cannot put that in words, but I was sold. Bass now had a solid punch and definition. I think the cables deliver more current to the speakers than what my previous cables did.
I went with 8 foot cables and returned the demo cables to Paul. I have Clear Day's jumpers between the woofer and tweeter terminals. Paul had sent a 2 strand jumpers. But when I purchased my pair, I insisted on 4, at a higher cost. But as Paul had said, it did not make a difference in the sound as compared to the 2 strand jumpers. So I should have listened to Paul and could have saved $40; but you learn from experience. I did the burn-in on my cables for 30+ hours on top of the 20+ hours that Paul did. I am simply impressed by these cables, every time I listen to them.
I then requested Paul to send me some demo XLRs. He did not have any and sent me a new pair of XLR cables. He said that if those did not work, then I could send the cables back. These come with Puresonic connectors, that are jewel like. Paul does not make the Hologram ICs anymore since the Xhadow connectors cost a lot more. But the ICs are pretty thick compared to the speaker cables. This cable did not increase the sound stage. But it clearly improved the "truth of timber" a bit more over what the speaker cables did. This was apparent when I listened to John Denver's "Sweet Misery" which is an older recording. Guitar strings now have a natural "hang" or resonance that was missing with the older cables. It sounded like a real guitar, rather than an image of a guitar. I changed back to Signals to make sure that this was again not placebo. I then got my wife to listen to some of the CDs and she had no difficulties in judging that the Clear Days were much better. Of course, we had a difference of opinion when I told her the total outlay on the speaker and XLR cables. But for me, the money was totally worth the upgrade in the sound quality.
I suggest that anyone looking to upgrade either their speaker cables or ICs, you should contact Paul at Clear Day and seek for a demo pair of cables. The max you stand to loose is $6.45 in return shipping after enjoying the cables for 30 days. People have compared these cables to some expensive cables and felt that the Clear Days were better. I have not tried any expensive cables, and so cannot comment on that part. All I can say is I am happy and smiling, each time I listen to my music.
Sorry for this long post, but I wanted to share my sincere opinion and experience. BTW, I have no financial interest in Clear Day; neither am I related to Paul.
